Sealing device for doors



NOV- l 1966 K. H. NlLssoN 3,281,990

SEALING DEVICE FOR DOORS Filed Sept. 8, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l 8 Fim 1 Fim FIG.3

1 'l0 f l \\Ll\ im 5 1L n Flos Psw www Nov. l, 1966 K. H. NlLssoN 3,281,990

SEALING DEVICE FOR DOORS Filed Sept. 8, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG? ...g a a 17 N10 aman United States Patent O 3,281,990 SEALING DEVICE FOR DOORS Kurt Harald Nilsson, Nacka, Sweden, assignor to Ingeniorslrma Limenco, Anders Nilsson & Co., Nacka, Sweden, a Swedish joint-stock company Filed Sent. 8, 1964. Ser.- No. 394,713 2 Claims. (Cl. 49-306) In door openings having no sill the lower edge of the door usually must be some centimeters above the floor in order to render possible free movement of the door Without being obstructed by carpets or the like. In closed state of the door, however, this space gives rise to inconveniences, such as draft, sound penetration etc.

This invention has as its object to eliminate these shortcomings by sealing the space when the door is closed and providing the space for movement when the door is open.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the construction of the device according to the invention, whereon FIG. l is a vertical sectional view of the lower portion of a door equipped with the device in closed position,

FIG. 2 shows 4the door seen in a transverse cross-section,

FIG. 3 shows the door in a cross-section seen from above,

FIG. 4 shows the door in open state,

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show the device on an enlarged scale,

FIG. 8 shows a spring rod according to another embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 9 shows a section through the lower portion of the door with still another embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 10 shows a further embodiment of the spring rod,

FIG. 1l shows another way of mounting the rod.

Referring to FIG. l, the door, in general, designated by 1 is at its lower portion provided with a longitudinal groove 2 which at both ends is at least partially closed by two recessed plates 3, 4. As appears from FIGS. 2 and 6, a ledge with a special section and vertically displaceablc is placed in the groove 2. The sides of said ledge 5 comprise two sheet metal strips or the like 6 which are maintained together by strips 7 and 8 and supporting blocks 9 respectively of a soft material, which may also be plastics, so that the ledge 5 is flexible in the horizontal plane.

A spring rod which in unloaded state is preferably straight, is inserted in an opening or tunnel below the strip 8 into the sealing ledge 5 and suspended in the plates 3 and 4. The sealing ledge 5 is thereby maintained lifted against the bottom of the groove 2, as appears from FIG. 4. In this position, the spring rod =10 is slightly bent downwards. An end portion of spring rod 10 is suspended in plate 3 on a hook 11 and the other end -extends through a hole in plate 4 with the corresponding end portion from the hole.

In the door frame 14 which carries the hinges, an adjustable stop member 12, preferably in the form of a wood screw, is mounted, with a recess 13 for the screw head. Upon closing the door, the projecting portion of the spring rod is pressed against the stop 12 whereby the sealing ledge 5 is pressed towards the licor and lifted again when the door is being opened.

By designing the suspension member in plate 3 as a hook 11, the sealing ledge 5 could be made so thin that space was only required for the width of the spring rod 10. The hole in the spring rod, however, is so spacious that the pressure produced by the end of the rod in the closed state of the door is taken up by plate 3 in order to prevent the weak hook 11 from being subjected to fatigue by many years of load shifting.

On the floor, in the recess of door frame 14 two resilient sealing members 15 are arranged to perform three 3,281,990- Patented Nov. 1, 1966 ICC functions, firstly, to prevent air from passing past the ends of the sealing ledge 5 at the slits 16 according to FIG. 7, secondly to allow a length of the sealing ledge which is considerably shorter than the distance between the plates 3 and 4 which is advantageous from a manufacturing point of view, and thirdly, to stretch the sealing ledge 5 obliquely in groove 2 when the door is closed according to FIG. 6, so that effective sealing is obtained along the entire length of the sealing ledge. The said oblique position of the sealing ledge in closed state of the door provides ample lateral clearance between the groove 2 and ledge 5 when the door is open. The combination of the oblique position and of the flexibility of the ledge 5 in the horizontal plane results in an effective sealing even when the groove 2 is not perfectly straight. The lower edge of the sealing ledge is preferably provided with corrugations 20, for example longitudinal bars.

When using a spring -rod 10, FIG. l, which in unloaded state is straight, the diameter of the rod 10 must be so great, due to the weight of the sealing ledge 5, that it is capable after insertion in the sealing ledge 5 below the strip 8 to maintain the ledge 5 lifted against the bottom of the groove 2.

The downward springing action of the rod 10, thus, is small compared with the rod dimension, and the spring constant is great.

In view thereof, a substantial end pressure is required on the spring rod 10 when it strikes against the door frame (screw 12) in order to effect upon closing the door additional downward pressing of the rod so that the sealing ledge S is dropped to the floor. Hereby, the screw (screws) 19 retaining the end plate 3 with the hook 11 is subjected to substantial stress.

In doors equipped with automatic door closers the resistance is higher than desired.

In order to eliminate the aforesaid disadvantages, the spring rod 10 is given a different construction. According to this embodiment, the spring rod 1t)` in unloa-ded state forms an upwardly curved arc (negative curvature), FIG. S, but is after insertion in the sealing ledge 5 below the strip y8 pressed Vdownwards and forms a downwardly curved arc (Ipositive curvature), FIG.V 9. Hereby, the spring rod has a greater downward springing action than if it would be straight from the beginning. The crosssection can be chosen smaller and the spring constant becomes less.

By this arrangement, the pressure requirement against the stop screw 12 in the door frame and the end plate 3 provided with the hook 11, is reduced and the screw (screws) 19 is not exposed to stress of the aforesaid s1ze.

The above applies without restriction to cases when the spring r-od has such a cross-section that its width dimension exceeds its height dimension. The hole for suspending the spring rod 10 on the hook 11 is as before drilled with a diameter slightly exceeding the wire diameter of the hook.

When the cross-section of the spring rod 10 is circular or of another shape, so that the rod due to the negative curvature turns around half a turn, the rod is preferably secured according to FIG. v9 in standard end pieces 17, 18 corresponding to the ends of the original spring rod. Hereby the wire diameter -of the spring r-od 10 is varied according to the width of the door pane while maintaining the standard dimension of the end pieces, so that a slight end pressure on the spring rod is required even when the door is of very small width.

The hook 11, besides its function as spring rod support has the further object of preventing the spring rod from turning around half a turn which it tends to do due to 3 the unstable position of the spring rod after the insertion below the strip 8.

The spring rod in unloaded state need not have arc shape. It may have at its centre an arc-shaped curvature and be straight to the ends according to FIG. l0, which ends may be bent in the opposite direction so that the spring rod forms a slight double S-curve.

By giving the en-ds a bending different of the curvature at the centre of rod 10, the spring rod 10 upon closing the door is lifted from the hook 11, so that there is only edge friction against the end plate 3 and screw 12 respectively. This arrangement appears from FIG. 11.

What I claim is:

1. A sealin-g device for doors, adapted to replace a fixed oor sill, comprising a door frame, a door having a downwardly facing groove in its lower edge portion, a sealing ledge substantially in said groove for vertical movement to an upper position clearing the floor and a lower position engaging and sealing against the floor, said sealing ledge comprising a pair of spaced apart, elongated strips of sheet material extending substantially the length of said ledge, and a -pair of spacing strips of elastic material one above the other, the lower of said spacing strips extending below said strips of sheet ma-terial and serving as the seal when engaging the Hoor, the upper one of said elastic strips being shorter than said lower elastic strip and being spaced therefrom forming a tunnel lbelow itself; actuating means for said sealing ledge comprising an elongated spring rod located in said groove, articulated means connecting one end of said spring rod to said door and said spring rod extending through said tunnel abovesaid lower elastic strip and below sai-d upper elastic strip, the other end of said spring rod extending out of said groove to engage said door frame when the door is closed to press on the said other end of said spring rod to cause said spring rod to bend downwardly in its central portion to force said sealing device into sealing engagement with the floor, and said spring r-od being disengaged from said door frame when the door is opened whereby said spring rod straightens and raises said sealing device 'by engagement beneath said upper elastic strip.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 and in which said door frame is provided with elastic sealing blocks at its bottom edges against which the end of said sealing device engages when the Idoor is closed to seal the space between the ends of the sealing device and the door frame.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,976,970 10/1934 Spanjers et al Ztl- 68.3 2,433,331 12/1947 Beck 20-68.3 2,799,063 7/1957 Miller 20-69 X 3,039,156 6/1962 Morris et al 20-69 3,073,381 1/1963 Burmeister 20-68 3,187,388 6/1965 Bagley 20-69 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,164,454 5/ 1958 France. 1,354,194 1/1964 France.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner. A. I. BREIER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SEALING DEVICE FOR DOORS, ADAPTED TO REPLACE A FIXED FLOOR SILL, COMPRISING A DOOR FRAME, A DOOR HAVING A DOWNWARDLY FACING GROOVE IN ITS LOWER EDGE PORTION, A SEALING LEDGE SUBSTANTIALLY IN SAID GROOVE FOR VERTICAL MOVEAMENT TO AN UPPER POSITION CLEARING THE FLOOR AND A LOWER POSITION ENGAGING AND SEALING AGAINSY THE FLOOR, SAID SEALING LEDGE COMPRISING A PAIR OF SPACED APART, ELONGATED STRIPS OF SHEET MATERIAL EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY THE LENGTH OF SAID LEDGE, AND A PAIR OF SPACING STRIPS OF ELASTIC MATERIAL ONE ABOVE THE OTHER, THE LOWER OF SAID SPACING STRIPS EXTENDING BELOW SAID STRIPS OF SHEET MATERIAL AND SERVING AS THE SEAL WHEN ENGAGING THE FLOOR, THE UPPER ONE OF SAID ELASTIC STRIPS BEING SHORTER THAN SAID LOWER ELASTIC STRIP AND BEING SPACED THEREFROM FORMING A TUNNEL BELOW ITSELF; ACTUATING MEANS FOR SAID SEALING LEDGE COMPRISING AN ELONGATED SPRING ROD LOCATED IN SAID GROOVE, ARTICULATED MEANS CONNECTING ONE END OF SAID SPRING ROD TO SAID DOOR AND SAID SPRING ROD EXTENDING THROUGH SAID TUNNEL ABOVE SAID LOWER ELASTIC STRIP AND BELOW SAID UPPER ELASTIC STRIP, THE OTHER END OF SAID SPRING ROD EXTENDING OUT OF SAID GROOVE TO ENGAGE SAID DOOR FRAME WHEN THE DOOR IS CLOSED TO PRESS ON THE SAID OTHER END OF SAID SPRING ROD TO CAUSE SAID SPRING ROD TO BEND DOWNWARDLY IN ITS CENTRAL PORTION TO FORCE SAID SEALING DEVICE INTO SEALING ENGAGEMENT WITH THE FLOOR, AND SAID SPRING ROD BEING DISENGAGED FROM SAID DOOR FRAME WHEN THE DOOR IS OPENED WHEREBY SAID SPRING ROD STRAIGHTENS AND RAISED SAID SEALING DEVICE BY ENGAGEMENT BENEATH SAID UPPER ELASTIC STRIP. 